No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
I have said a hundred times, and I have no inclination to take it back, that I believe there is no right, and ought to be no inclination in the people of the free States to enter into the slave States, and to interfere with the question of slavery at all. I have said that always.
These men ask for just the same thing, fairness, and fairness only. This, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have.
That our government should have been maintained in its original form from its establishment until now is not much to be wondered at. It had many props to support it through that period, which now are decayed and crumbled away. Through that period, it was felt by all to be an undecided experiment; now, it is understood to be a successful one.
It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families - second families, perhaps I should say.
With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.
When I do good I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad, and that's my religion.
Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
I have great respect for the semicolon; it is a mighty handy little fellow.
There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.
I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.
I think that slavery is wrong, morally, socially and politically. I desire that it should be no further spread in these United States, and I should not object if it should gradually terminate in the whole Union.
What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.
You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.
If a man had more than one life, I think a little hanging would not hurt this one; but after he is once dead, we cannot bring him back, no matter how sorry we may be; so the boy shall be pardoned.
I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.
I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
If I like a thing, it just sticks after once reading it or hearing it.
